In the winter, it can cause temperatures to drop to around -30°C. In the summer, it is cool and dusty. It varies diurnally, and is strongest between 5:00 and 10:00 in the morning. Košava is usually caused by a low pressure zone over the Adriatic Sea and a corresponding high pressure zone in southern Russia.[1]

The name is also used traditionally in northwestern Bulgaria to mean a southeastern or eastern wind.[2][3] There exists the saying: "When košava blows, the Nišava freezes".[4]